WND EXCLUSIVE

Attack on Christians leaves Christmas Day carnage

See video of aftermath of bombing near church

Published: 12/27/2013 at 6:55 PM

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Editor’s Note: Please use caution in viewing video, which is graphic.

A new video has been posted on Facebook that reveals the extent of the carnage from a bombing attack in Baghdad, Iraq, on Christmas Day that killed at least 37 people near a Catholic Church and in a marketplace.

The video was featured by the Assyrian International News Agency, which reports the video was posted on Facebook shortly after the fatal attack in the Assyrian quarter in Dora, an Assyrian Christian neighborhood in south Baghdad.

The agency reports, “As the videographer walks toward the center of the bombed market, men are seen carrying bodies of injured men and women to cars, dismembered bodies lie on the ground and bodies of men and woman and children litter the scene. Relatives stand next to the bodies of the dead and scream and cry hysterically.”

The report said nearby another car bomb exploded outside of St. John Assyrian Catholic Church as worshipers were leaving the church after attending Christmas Mass. That explosion killed 27 and wounded 56.

No one has claimed responsibility for the terror.

According to an independent report from the Associated Press, there were a total of three bombings on Christmas Day, including the one near the church and at the market place, which was struck by two bombings.

The AP noted Iraq’s Christian community, which is estimated to number about 400,000 to 600,000 people, “often has been targeted by al-Qaida and other insurgents who see the Christians as heretics.”

From the U.S. Embassy there was the statement, “The Christian community in Iraq has suffered deliberate and senseless targeting by terrorists for many years, as have many other innocent Iraqis. The United States abhors all such attacks and is committed to its partnership with the government of Iraq to combat the scourge of terrorism.”